Clincher for wire-stapling machines



July 3, 1928. 1,675,779

H. G. ALLEN CLINCHER FOR WIRE STAPLING MACHINES Filed July 17, 1926Patented July 3, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HOWARD G. ALLEN, OF NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO. MORRISONSTITCHEB CORPORATION, OF NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEWYour.

Application filed July 17,

This invention relates to the clincher of a stapling or stitchingmachine whereby staples or stitches of wire are applied to pamphlets,books and the like for holding of paper or other material these legs donot always travel in straight lines and often comev out at differentdistances from the center line of the staple and the ends of these legsare often clinched so that they are arranged at an angle to the centerline of the staple and therefore produce an unfinished and unsightly apearance. This is due to conditions hereto ore beyond the control of thestapling or stitchin machine, such as uneven reeling of the wire on thespool or coil and the quality of the wire, all of which produce avariation in the driving capacity of the wire staple. Experience alsoshows that the straightness with which wire will be driven de nds a reatdeal on the condition of the ives w ioh sever the wire in lengthssuitable for making the staples, inasmuch as the knives when dullproduce either a bevel or frayed out and this causes the legs of thestaple when passing through a pad of material to leave off to one sideof the center of the staple.

Heretofore each of the clincher blocks in stapling machines has onlybeen provided on, its face with one longitudinal guide groove the wallsor sides of which are inclined or beveled and this roove served todirect the oint or end a staple leg after it assed through the pad ofmaterial toward t e center line of the sta le with the result that oftenthe sta le e'n s would be inclined or arranged ob iquely or twisted outof shape and therefore lacked neat-ness in appearance. a

It is the object of this invention to pro: vide a clincher for staplingmachines which will cause the ends or points of the 'le after passingthrough the material to be c inched or bent against the material in adirection parallel with the center line of the staple and thus present abetter appearance.

To that end this invention consists in ,providing each block of theclincher with a plurality of guide grooves any one of which s adapted toreceive the point or end of a cnmqnnn FOR wmn-s'rarnme mcnnvns.

1926. serial No. 123,221.

staple leg and bend the same parallel with the center of the staple.

In the accompanying drawings: a i

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a clincher embodying one form of myinvention. a

F gure 2 is a side elevationthereof with one side plate or Wall of theclincher box removed. 1 e

Figure 3 is a vertical section taken on line 33 ofFigure 2. i j

'Figure 4 is a vertical cross section, on an" enlarged scale, of one ofthe clincherblocks or jaws provided with three guide groovescorresponding to Figures 1 and 3; 1

Figure 5 is a vertical longitudinal section of a pad of material and thestapledriving and chnching mechanism of a stapling mach ne in elevationshowing the manner of drivingthe legs of a staple through a padofmaterial and turning over or bending the legs against the materialinaccordance with my 1I1V8I1t1011.

Figures 6, 7, 8 and 9 represent fragmentary. bottom views of a padshowing the manner in which the ends or points of the staple legs arebent or turned parallel with the center of the staple by the use of myinventions Figures 10, 11 and 12 are vertical crosssections through apad and a clincher block showing the manner in which the points or endsof the staple legs are turned into paraL. lelism with the center of. thestaple corre sponding to the position of the parts shown lnFig'ures 6, 7and 8.

Figures 13, 14 and 15 are bottom views showing different forms of thestaple ends relative to the center of the staple when applying the sameto material by the means heretofore employed. a e

Figure 16 is a vertical section similar to Figure 4 but showing fiveguide grooves on the face of the clincher block.

Similar characters of reference indicate like parts on the several viewsof the drawings.

Although this invention is applicable to machines for stapling orstitching together two various kinds of materials by means of wirestaples the same is shown in the draw in gs in connection with a pad orpile of superposed sheets or layers "20 which are connected by aU-shapedwire staple having its legs 21, 21 passing throughfthis pad, a q

50 v r and engages with notches iormed' on the cross bar 22 connectingthe upper or rear ends of said legs and engaging the real or upper sideofthis pad, and two points, ends or toes 23, 23, arranged at the loweror front ends on the legsamt bent: or turned against the underor front.side oi asshawu in Figure 5.

The staple driving mechanism maybe oi any suitable construction and isrepresented generally in the drawings by the vertically homovable driveror hammer 24; which is adapted to engage with the cross bar of thestapleand push or force its legs through the pad of material untilthe crossbar rests against the rear or top side of the pad as shown in Figure 5.

After the legs ofthe staple have been thus driven through the pad theirpoints, ends or toes are bent toward each other and ressed against thelower or front side of t e pad 7. by a'clincher mechanism which also maybe filling pieces 28', 28 arranged between the corresponding ends of theside plates and screws 29, 29 connecting said side plates and fillingpieces.

The clincher blocks are pivoted at their outer ends onthe side plates bymeans of horizontal pivot pins 30, 30 so. that the. inner ends of theseblocks can swing vertically. \Vhen the legs of the staple emerge"fromthe under side of the pad of the material they engage the clincherblocks which are in their lowered position as' shown in Figure 2 and areturned or 'hent toward each other and: thereafter the clincher blocksare raised and operate to press the points or ends of the staple legsagainst the underside of the pad", as shown in Figure 5. The raising andlowering of the clincher blocks is efiected by a T-shapedf lifter 31which is guided in a slot 32 in the lower part of the clincher boxopposing inner sides of the clincher blocks and a vertically movable ushrod 3 f on which said litter is mountedi In the clinchin devices asheretofore constructed each bloch was rovided on its upper side or facewith a singe longitudinal "de groove, the guide grooves of both h" cksbeing in a li'nement. If therefore the legs of a sta le were both drivenstraight through the andfengaged the guide grooves of the respectiveclincher blocks then the ends or points of these. legs would? be folded,bent or turned properly toward each other into a position parallel andvertically in line with the longitudinal center of the staple which-I'ine is represented iy the cross bar of the staple, as shown in Figures6 and 10. If however one leg of the staple would be diverted. iron astraight path imprnetrating the. pad its point or and 11pm emerglng fromthe underside of thecpaab maybe defleeted by thegu-id'e groove in therespective block toward the center line of the staple and thus' assumean angular position, as shown in F igurel'3. In some instances botlrlagsof the staple ma be divertedfrom a'stra-ight path! through t'li whichcase both' oints or ends of the'staple' may he cleflecte by the ruidegrooves of the clincher blocks towar the center line of the staple andthus assume angular posi:

tions, as shown in Fi ure 14. Or the legs of the staple may be divertedin op osite directions from the center line of t e staple and their endsor points may be deflected back toward this line by the'gui'de groovesof the clincher block u on emerging from the underside of the pa asshown in Fig;

ure 15. In some instances the points of'thef legs may miss the guidegrooves ofthe clincher blocks in which case those points would be turnedover by the flat surfaces of the block in a more or less twisted form.

When the points or end's of the staples are thus arranged in an angularor twisted formrelatively to the center line oft he fstaplethe workpresents an unfinished and de 'ect'i'vef' appearance which isunsatisfactory to the trade and is the cause of rejecting work which isotherwise acceptable;

To avoid this the present invention provides each of the clincher blockswithla lura-lity of guide-channels or grooves w ich are arrangedlengthwise of these blocks and; parallel with each other and thegrooVes'in one block being in line with corresponding grooves in theother block. 1 These} grooves are preferably of an odd numberandcomprise a central or'main groove and one or e pad and the same di jrection from the center line ofthe staple in If the legs of astaplealliedrjven 's'trai'gl'it through the'padthe oints or ends oi the samehoth enterthe 'main'celltlt'a'l groove 35 and are foldled hent or turnedtowardeach other arallel' with each other andthe center line 0 the stale represented by its cross her,

- as shown in igures 6 and I0; lfone'of ithe legs shouldbe diverted froma straight path in penetrating the ad, its point or end on; emergingfrom the luldersitle of the pad will engage the respective auxiliaryguide groove 36, as shown in Figure 11, and be bent or turned therebyinto a position in which this end is parallel with but ofi-set from theturned end or point of the other leg of the staple, as shown in Figure7. If both legs of the staple are diverted away from opposite sides orthe center line of the staple the points of the same will engage withthe auxiliary guide grooves on opposite sides of the central or maingroove, as shown in Figure 12 and then be bent or turned toward eachother on the underside of the pad so that the same are off-set butarranged parallel with each other and with the cross bar of therespective staple, as shown in Figure 8. In some instances both legs ofthe staple may be diverted laterally from the-same side of the staplecenter line in which case the ends of the same upon emerging from theunderside of the pad will engage with corresponding auxiliary grooves ofboth clincher blocks and be turned thereby into a position in which theyare in line with each other and parallel with the center line of thestaple as shown in Figure 9. i i

If desired more than three guide grooves may be employed, for example,as shown in Figure 16, each clincher block may be provided with a maincentral guide groove 35 and two auxiliary grooves 36 on opposite sidesofthe main groove.

In order to cause the ends or points of the staples to aline themselvesproperly in the guide grooves upon entering any portion thereof thesegrooves are made V-shaped in cross-section, as shown in Figures 4, 10,11, 12 and 16 so that the sides or walls are inclined and deflect thestaple ends toward the center of the respective groove.

The summits or walls between adjacent guide grooves in each clincherblock are very narrow so as to prevent the points of the staple legsfrom resting thereon, but in order to prevent such summits frompresenting too sharp an edge and wearing rapidly these summits areflattened, as best shown at 37 in Figures 1, 4, and 16. In practice itis pref erable to make the flat faces on the summits of the wallsbetween the guide grooves no greater in width than about one-third ofthe width of the grooves at the top thereof, thereby preventinglodgement of the staple ends on such summits and insuring good work.

In all of these several results the ends or points of the staple legsare parallel with each other and the length of the staple therebymaintaining a well finished and satisfactory appearance of the work andincreasing its value accordingly.

I claim:

1. A clincher for wire stapling machine provided on its face with aplurality of guide grooves arranged parallel and lengthwise of theclincher, each of said grooves being of the same V-shape cross-sectionthroughout its length and the summit of the walls between adJacentgrooves being flat and of the same width throughout the length thereof.

2. A clincher for wire stapling machine

